July 25, 1872] 



NATURE 



247 



the broad, flatt2ned, fleshy head, with mhiute cilia, with- 

 out external eyes, and inliabiting caves so sinailar in 

 structure to the Mammoth Cave, make a comparison of 

 tliem with the fishes of the Mammoth Cave most interest- 

 ing. This is greatly enhanced by the fact that the Cuban 

 fishes belong to a family of essentially marine habit, quite 

 far removed from Ainblyopsis. The fresh water ling 

 {Lota), belonging to the same great group of fishes (though 

 to a distinct family or sub-family) containing the cod on 

 the one hand and the Cuban blind fish on the other, is 

 probably the nearest fresh water relative of the Cuban 

 fish, but the nearest representative yet known is the marine 

 genus Brotula, one species of which is found in the Carri- 

 bean Sea. 



In the Cuban blind fish we find ciliary appendages 

 on the head and body quite distinctly developed, evidently 

 of the same character as those o^ Ainblyopsis, and answer- 

 ing the purpose of tactile organs. These cilia are in the 

 form of small but plainly visible protuberances (remind- 

 ing one of the single fleshy protuberance over the oper- 

 cular opening just back of the head in Amblyopsh). 

 There are eight of these on top of the head of a specimen 

 I hastily examined, received from Prof Poey by the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, and quite a number 

 arranged in three rows on each side of the body, showing 

 that tactile sense is well developed in this fish : though it 

 is rather singular that the barbels on the jaws, so usually 

 developed as organs of touch in the cod family and its 

 allies, are entirely wanting in this fish. 



The brain of Lucifii^a siibtcyyaiteus, as represented by 

 the figures of Poey, differs very much from that of L. 

 dcntdtus and of Amblyopsis. In all, the optic lobes are 

 as largely developed as in allied fishes provided with well 

 developed eyes. In Liicifitj;a sKb/i-rraiiciis the cerebral 

 lobes are separated by quite a space from the round optic 

 lobes, which are represented as a little larger than the 

 cerebral lobes, and also of greater diameter than the cere- 

 bellum ; this latter being more developed laterally than 

 in either L. dcntatiis or Amblyopsis. The three divisions 

 of the brain are represented, from a top view, as nearly 

 complete circles (without division into right and left lobes), 

 of which that representing the optic lobes is slightly the 

 largest. In L. dcntatiis the procencephalon and the optic 

 lobes are represented as divided into right and left lobes, 

 as in Ainblyopsis, and the cerebellum does not extend 

 laterally over the medulla oblongata as inZ. siibtcrraiiciis, 

 but, as in Amblyopsis, is not so broad as the medulla, 

 and, projecting forwards, covers a much larger portion of 

 the optic lobes than \% the case in L. siibtcnanciis. 



The Cuban blind fish has the body, cheeks, and oper- 

 cular bones covered with scales. As in Ainblyopsis, the 

 eyes exist, but are so imbedded in the flesh of the head as 

 to be of no use. The outUne cut here given (Fig. i), 

 copied from Poey, is very characteristic of the form of 

 the fish, but does not exhibit the fleshy cilia or details of 

 scaling. 



The first notice that I can find of the Mammoth Cave 

 blind fish is that contained in the " Proceedings of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," vol. i. 

 p. 175, where is recorded the presentation of a specimen 

 to the Academy by \V. T. Craige, M.D., at the meeting 

 held on May 24, 1S43, in the following words : — 



" A white, eyeless crayfish {Astaciis Bartoni ?) and a 

 small white fish, also eyeless (presumed to belong to a 

 sub-genus of Siliirns), both taken from a small stream 

 called the River Styx in the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, 

 about two and one-half miles from the entrance." 



Ur. DeKay, in his " Natural History of New York 

 Fishes," p. 187, published in 1S42, describes the fish, from 

 a poor specimen in the Cabinet of the Lyceum of Natural 

 History of New York, under the name of Amblyopsis* 

 sj>clti'iis.\ De Kay's description is on the whole so cha- 



racteristic of the fish as to leave no doubt as to the species 

 he had before him, though the statement that it has eight 

 rays supporting the branchiostegal membrane (instead of 

 si.x), and that the eyes are "large "but under the skin, 

 must have been due the bad condition of his specimen, 

 and to his taking the fatty layer covering the minute 

 eyes for the eyes themselves, as pointed out by Prof. 

 Wyman. Dr. DeKay places the genus with the Silurid.t 

 (cat-fishes), but at the same time questions its connection 

 with the family, and says that it will probably form the 

 type of a new family. In 1S43 Prof Jeffries Wyman* 

 gave an account of the dissection of a specimen in which 

 he could not find a trace of the eye or of the optic nerve, 

 probably owing to the condition of the specimen, as he 

 afterwards + found the eye spots, and made out the struc- 

 ture of the eye. When describing the brain, Prof Wyman 

 calls attention to the fact of the optic lobes being as well 

 developed as in allied fishes with well developed eyes, and 

 asks if this fact does not indicate that the optic lobes arc 

 the seat of other functions as well as of that of sight. He 

 also calls attention to the papilla: on the head as tactile 

 organs furnished with nerves from the fifth pair. 



Dr. Theo. Tellkampf J was the first to point out the 

 existence of the rudimentary eyes from dissections made by 

 himself and Prof J. Midler, and to state that they can be 

 detected in some specimens as black spots under the skin 

 by means of a powerful lens. Prof Wyman afterwards 

 detected the eye through the skin in several specimens. 

 Dr. Tellkampf also was the first to call attention to the 

 " folds on the head, as undoubtedly serving as organs of 

 touch, as numerous fine nerves lead from the trigeminal 

 nerve to them and to the head generally." 



It is also to Dr. Tellkampf that we are indebted for the 

 first figure of the fish,§ and for figures illustrating the 

 brain and internal organs. The descriptions of the ana- 

 tomy of the fish by Drs. Tellkampf and Wyman are all 

 that have ever been written on the subject of any impor- 

 tance, with the exception of the description of the eye by 

 Dr. Dalton, whose paper, in the Noiv York Medical Times, 

 vol. ii. p. 354, I have not seen. Prof Poey gives a com- 

 parison of portions of the structure with that of the Cuban 

 blind fishes. 



Dr. Tellkampf proposed the name of HctiTOpy<;ii\\ for 

 the family of which, at the time, a single species from the 

 Mammoth Cave was the only known representative, and 

 makes a comparison of the characters with those of 

 Aphicdodcriis Sayaniis, a fish found only in the fresh 

 waters of the United States, and belonging to the old 

 family of Percoids, but now considered as representing a 

 family by itself, though closely allied to the North Ameri- 

 can breams (Pomotis), and having the anal opening under 

 the throat, as in the blind fish. 



Dr. Storer,1I not knowing of Dr. Tellkampf's paper, 

 proposed the name of Ilypsccidce, for the blind fish, and 

 placed it between the minnow and the pickerel families, 

 in the order of Malacopterygian, or soft-rayed fishes. 

 According to the system adopted by Dr. Gunther, it 

 stands as closely allied to the minnows, Cyprinodoiitidi.e 

 (many of which are viviparous and have the single ovary 

 and general character of the blind fish), and the shiners, 

 CypniiidiT, of the order of Physostomi. Dr. Tellkampf, 

 in discussing the relations of the family, points out its 

 many resemblances to the family of Clupcsoccs, and its 

 differences from the Siluroids, Cyprinodontcs, and Clu- 

 peoids, with which it has more or less affinity, real or 

 supposed. Prof. Cope in his paper on the Classification 



* Sillinmu's Jmirnal, vol. 45. P- 94- 



t Proceedings Boston Sue. Nat. Hist., vol. 4. p. 395. 1S53. 



t Muller'ii Archiv. fur Anat., 1844, p. 392. Reprinted in the New York 

 Journal 0/ Medicine for July, 1845 p. 84, with plate. 



§ The only other figures of the species, that I am aware of. are the simple 

 outlines yiven in Poey's " Mem. de Cuba," the woodcut in Wood's "Illus- 

 trated Natural History," and the cut in Tenney's "Zoology." None of 

 these figures are very satisfactory. 



II From the advanced position of the terminus of the intestine being so dif- 

 ferent from the position which it has in ordinary fishes 



H " Synopsis of the Fishes of North America," published in 1846. 



